Poverty...
"The recession drove the number of poor Americans in 2009 to its highest total in half a century, yet several measures indicate the impact could well have been worse.
"While the Census Bureau's report Thursday on the economic conditions of U.S. households found that 3.8 million more people lived in poverty last year than in 2008, the agency and advocates for the poor say millions of others were sustained with the help of government programs.
"Advocates cite federal stimulus initiatives aimed at low-income earners and the extension of unemployment benefits, which alone are credited with helping keep 3.3 million people out of poverty."
The knee-jerk reaction is to blame the poor and punish same.
The poor were not in Congress when the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were passed. The poor are still not in Congress as we allow those cuts that benefited the few to expire or extend them. The current Obama Administration will receive a brunt of the blame, even though they inherited the conditions (and in many cases, the flatulent wind) blown by the previous Cheney/Bush administration. Paul O'Neil and Alan Greenspan were quoted in "The Price of Loyalty" by Ron Suskind that they favored tax cuts with certain "triggers," i.e. business conditions that made sense to do tax cuts and everyone benefits...instead of the few.
"Deficits don't matter," I remember Cheney saying in the audio book by Suskind. "This is our due!"
We are all due for a reckoning with the reality of hydrogen-filled Hindenburg dirigibles - Keynesian or Friedman styled - fashioned in the 20th Century trying to operate [still] an economy in the 21st!
More at: NPR story on poverty rates in the US.
"While the Census Bureau's report Thursday on the economic conditions of U.S. households found that 3.8 million more people lived in poverty last year than in 2008, the agency and advocates for the poor say millions of others were sustained with the help of government programs.
"Advocates cite federal stimulus initiatives aimed at low-income earners and the extension of unemployment benefits, which alone are credited with helping keep 3.3 million people out of poverty."
The knee-jerk reaction is to blame the poor and punish same.
The poor were not in Congress when the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were passed. The poor are still not in Congress as we allow those cuts that benefited the few to expire or extend them. The current Obama Administration will receive a brunt of the blame, even though they inherited the conditions (and in many cases, the flatulent wind) blown by the previous Cheney/Bush administration. Paul O'Neil and Alan Greenspan were quoted in "The Price of Loyalty" by Ron Suskind that they favored tax cuts with certain "triggers," i.e. business conditions that made sense to do tax cuts and everyone benefits...instead of the few.
"Deficits don't matter," I remember Cheney saying in the audio book by Suskind. "This is our due!"
We are all due for a reckoning with the reality of hydrogen-filled Hindenburg dirigibles - Keynesian or Friedman styled - fashioned in the 20th Century trying to operate [still] an economy in the 21st!
More at: NPR story on poverty rates in the US.
Labels: Poverty, Stimulus, Unemployment
posted by Unemployed | 8:08 PM
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